Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1887-04-01
WATCH AND WAIT.

From the above heading lengthy article
appears in enc of the leading journals Of
the country, asking, with much emphasis,
when the great Americas poem is to be
written, and also the great American novel.
What is meant by the great American
poem and the great American novel is not
altogether so easy Of dihnition. II by either
it is to be understood that he who is its
author must be an American Scott, or Boil
wsr, or Byron, or Dickens, or Victor Huge,
perhaps the time for its production will be
longer than most literary people new sus-
pect. Books in abundance have been writ
ten by Americans-nOvels, poems, histories,
essays, biographies, and what not, but not
one in all the lsng list has ever stamped
upon it that sort of genius which is divine,
and which, overlapping the bounds Of a
mere locality or nationality, becomes at
once the property Of the civilized world.
1t may be that America is too young yet
for that calm, steady self multiplying growth
which produces literary giants. Wealth and
leisure are largely wanting. Literature is a
luxury which can only reach its mature de-
velopment after an iron age has given place
to golden one This continent Of ours had
to be conquered before it could be occupied.
No doubt many stalwart old pioneer of
the grand old pioneer days lived stirring
epic If he could not write one. In the forests
at night he may have seen sights that the
sun Of the morning obliterated, but which,
if he could have described as they appeared
to him, real and wonderful, would have
lived long after the civilization which pro-
duced him had passed away. And what
seags he must have heard hsidaa suss
that the winds sang when as upon the
strings of an Aolian hsrp, they played
upon the swaying boughs of the tree tops.
That he did not set any Of them to music
in the old rhythmical fashion is not because
he did not feel the impulse strong within
him, but because his surroundings left him
no leisure beyond the selfappeinted life.
task Of the hewing of wosd and the draw
ing of water
True, the forest and the stream and the
Indian have all found mighty painter,
but the age has never gene beyond Cooper
the only typical novelist America has pro-
duced-and the generation Of to-day has
forgettenold Hawkeye, LIE eros Serpent and
Uncas, aud all the fatal ambuscades by wood
and hollow, and every lake, or plain, or
river that Leather Stocking made as famil-
lar as sweethearts face and as vivid as the
western sky when cloudless sun sets in it,
From the far frontier Bret Harte has made
exqusitely picturesque some Of the salient
features which go to make up perfect ma
tional character, but they are but features.
From them no clearly distinct idea can be
formed of what the face might be, in its
complete creation and rspose it would still
retain the beauty and the harmony Of a
splendid whole.
And as is Harte, SO have been all. the
balance OF the writers of America, whether
prose or practical. They deal in special
ties, for literature has its spscialtes as well
as science. Whittier's partisan lyrics made
him famous, because at the time he wrote
most the sections hated each other, and bis
readers did not care so much about an
analysis Of his poetic gifts as they did about
the vigor Of his attacks upon slavery. Bry-
ant has cast off many gem, aud 80 has
Lowell, and SO has L,ngIellow, but the
flight Of the eagle has not been accorded to
any Of these. Poe was weird aud fragmen-
tary. The attitude he might have attained
under other skies and different aspects it is
not worth while now to reckon.
II would therefore seem 70 ."PI,-.s that
~ ., 90 r-oi, AID 49, sre.s wffeef-ss.i'. ~
proSimatsga great poet, has yet wfrS@-nl
in America AS TO prsse writers, and it is
not necessary that they should be romance
,, writers solely, none have gone to the front
as the typical American writer. The land
is not cid enough. 1t has not wealth, and
leisure and luxury enough The spirit efgail
is their lord and master, and. until this TO a
certain extent is rendered less exacting anc
importunate, American literature can never
mount higher than its present status.